spXV team of the week (rnd 8),,,

1 reg goodes (hurricanes)
as well as being a real meance in the tight 5, goodes was outstanding around the field, especially on attack. julian saveas first try was on the back of a wicked pass from goodes which would have put a lot backs in the game to shame.
schalk ferrera from the kings was a very close 2nd.

2 adrian strauss (cheetahs)
was the most doiminant ball carrying tight 5 forward in the week, no other hooker came close to the incumbent Springbok.

3 angus taavao (blues).
had a huge game for the blues against the highlanders really struglled to contain his ball carries and his defence was easily the best of all the front row forwards with 15 from 15.

4 hugh pyle (rebels)
had the best all round game of all the locks,great ball carries, solid defence & did his job in the lineouts including a lineout steal.

5 andreis bekker (stormers)
like hugh pylem his all round game was of the highest order, but he made a few more mistakes & mistackles.
IMO bekker would have to be up for contention as one of the players of the comp, his form has been outstanding but his consistency has been 2nd to none.

6 wimppie van der walt (kings)
IMO wimpies game was easily the standout performances of the week, & he even gets my player of the week award.
while he pulled of 19 from 19 tackles, it wasnt the quantity which was the most impressive thing about his game, it was the fact that every single tackle he made put the brumbies on the back foot. he was consistently smashing players who dared run into him before wimpie drove them back at least a meter or 2, i think there was 2 or three occassions where his tackles just hurt the brumbies to a stand still, the other 16 must have earned his a meter or two as he drove them back. very very impressed with the man named wimpie, but based on last fridays game, the name super bad ass would be more appropriate.

7 ardie savea (hurricanes)
had a dream spXV debut schooling wallaby incumbent micheal hooper big time. was easily the most influential person in the breakdowns and also cleaned up the tackle stats with a whopping 21 from 21, o_O
Lord have mercy, cos ardie sure wont.

8 cornell du preez (kings)
the kings earned a draw on the back of some amazing defence, they made three times the number of tackles that the brumbies made, yet missed only 12 compared to the brumies 13.
the few attack the kings did have were thanks in no small part to the efforts of cornell du preez, who was a force with the ball in hand even scorin two tries to top of a memorable weekend.

9 piri weepu (blues)
weepus playing some great rugby at the moment and easily had the best performance in the weekend. controlled the run of play well with some accurate kicking and distributed the ball well and like any good halfback was always supporting his teammates.
IMO he has easilt got to be the incumbent All Black halfback in 2013 if his perforamnce is any preresquite to go by in 2103, then its a gurnatee.

10 micheal foley (waratahs)
foley proved to be too much of a handful for the hurricanes, he smartly targated the inside channel of the hurricanes and made some whopping meters for the wararaths. thjose runs gave the waratahs a lot of go froward which translated to points. add to that the other aspects of his flyhalf game which he completed to a very high level.

11 julian savea (hurricanes)
last sat julian savea had a nother huge game racking up meters, linebreaks, tacklebreaks & trys. his powerful runs and uncanny ability to find the line has one of the form wingers of the comp set for another huge season

12 kyle godwin (force)
a very accurate and efficent game from godwin who probvided a lot for the force despite their  loss against the sharks. always threatened the line while remaining solid in defence for a very complete game.
IMO its only a matter of time before this guy becomes a wallaby

13 rene ranger (blues)
one of the most consistent players in 2013 and on friday night he again delivered a ton of linebreaks, tackle breaks and offloads to help his teamates on the attack.
his performances have IMO made him a real worthy contender for a possible All Blacks selection this year. fingers crossed, cos IMO he deserves a shot.

14 jason woodward (rebels)
had his best game of his young career showcasing his exhilarating speed and a nice array of tricks to help the rebels to their 2nd win. the lines he ran plus the options he took indicate that woodward is one to look out for in the future.
frank halai actually did more in terms of linebreaks, tackle breaks, offloads & meters made, but woodward was very active around the field helping out a lot in the brekadowns, just always looking for work which was a big plus for in my books.

15 charles piutau (blues)
like ranger charles has proved to be a real handful for the opposition in 2013. he has proved to be an extremely elusive ball carrier who loves to counter attack. add to that some very nimble and agile feet and u have a sue fire recipie for a deadly player. his efforts against the higlnaders was testamant to this and he is on the right path to obtaining higher honours in the future.

time for the ever popular my team of the week segment, lolz, :oP

this time round i gave a brief reason as to why these players made my team of the week as well as provided a few numbers to put it into prespective.

interested in hearing ur opinons or even better ur team of the week, :o)
 

saSUE what lunatic picked that team? I grant you the twit didnt get it all wrong as random luck favoured him. D preez gets a try for the queens and suddeny he is a world beater. Hahahahahahahaha

Another point is that when nz sides play eachother their backs cannot be evaluated as these try scoring fests are evidence of the nz oaks not being able to defend. makes nz backs look ood which they are not nearly as good when facing Sa sides particliarly the better ones.

Another thing when two weak team play eachother like the force and the rebels one has to take that into account?

It also ensures of course that nz sides pick up extra points particlualry the loosing side. Dishonest kiwi bird brains are always up to something unsavoury.

However one can see that sides are shutting down the show ponies - I mean even England, who we beat with numerous players missing, gave the kiwis a most severe snotklap.!!!      

Hey, ou Beenbal. Maybe you should concentrate when you read. Try reading this part in Sasuke's second post again, and concentrate while you read:

"this time round i gave a brief reason as to why these players made my team of the week as well as provided a few numbers to put it into prespective."

Why not take him up on his challenge?

Ashely Cooper was the best 13 of the weekend and Steph du Toit was better than Pyle at 4

Sasue

I do agree with your selections and your reasons given this week   There are some problems though - but those are in the long run eliminated.  Performances are influenced by the qaulity of the opposing teams.   ifthe opposing teams are poor - then individual players stands out.  That largely happens in the cases of players like Pyke.

Savea had a most impressive first game - but is he going to last through the season with the same high level of performance?   I hope so - since I want him in my fantasy teams as from next week.

@saffex,
i had AAC on the shortlist, but he gave away penalty that was converted to points & also missed a crucial tackle which led to a try. but the main reason he didnt make the team was he was left for dead by julian savea twice who gassed him twice & gave him 3rd degree burns.
du toit was good but pyle was better, level of opposition was a prob a big factor in why though.

@mikey,
ur spot on with those comments, the corelation between the quality of opponents & the influence that has with the perforamnces of players can not be ignored, hence someone like pyle having a better game then du toit.
this was one of mozters pet peeves too, but like i told him, players arent responsible for who they face, the can only play with whats infront of them, hence me making my selections based on team of the week, as oppose to say team of the season based on teams who played the crusaders, etc

if u are considering recrutitng ardie savea, then i might have to consider benching him, errrrrr im styarting to notice a pattern where ur selections seem to be jinxing some players, just look at todd & gear, LMAO, :oP

as for ardie though, i was so impressed with his debut game, it would have done his confidecne a world of good & TBH i wasnt expecting much for him, as it is very difficult to make an impression at spXV level, especially for someone whose only 19 years old.
IMO he dosent even need to replicate that debut performance, if he can produce a quality of say 50% percent of what he did last week for every game for the rest of the season, then hes going to be the rookie of the year.
heres something i heard unofficially, but ardie savea runs 15th fastest 100meters in hurricanes history. when i think of the likes of lome faatau, christain cullen, corey jane, andre taylor, tana umaga, julian savea, im thinking WOW, O_o
looks like the No7 or should i say the open side flanker postion looks ready for another evolution cycle.

Michael Foley played flyhalf this weekend? Wish I'd seen that!

Bernard Foley made a few excellent breaks but I'm not convinced his overall performance was better than Pat Lambie's.

I'd also make a case for Pieter Steph du Toit to be included ahead of Andries Bekker who seemed to be on the wing most of the time.

Crap, Ashely Cooper was the best 13, he made an impression everytime he had the ball in hand and Steph du Toit was the best 4, especially considering he was playing against the Saders vs the Rebels playing the Force

@rooinek,
LMAO, :oD
touche, bernard foley, not micheal foley, :o)

@saffex,
bro i am a huge fan of ur brash tak no prisoners style of blogging & i hope it nmever changes, LMAO, :oP
in regards to AAC, ur right when he attacked he was very lethal, ehence him making the shortlist, but his defnsive lapses IMO cant be ignored & he was routinely caught short by hurricane players of all shapes & positions & i will always favour an player with an all round game over someone who had flashes of brilliance in parts of their game.
had his attacks been the only source of consideration, then it still wouldnt have been cut and dry, cos ranger was just as deadly minus the dfensive liability.
also under the preresquites involved with ur selection of AAC, i would have picked frank halai over jason woodward too, halai was way more dangerous ball in hand, but woodwards all round game was better.

Beeno you lose credibilty with every entertaining post, I know your primarily Kiwi baiting so you type whatever twat comes between your moments of magic mushroom lucidness, but the Crusaders win was built on.....defence, against the 2012 "Beeno Super 15" champs.....the Stormer. How are you expected to be taken seriously when you mess up the basics. Plus there is not a Bok back that would displace an AB back if they played in NZ, we produce too many world class backs, ask your Bok team of 2012 in that 2nd test in SA of the RC.

 Good team Sasuke. Really splitting hairs to suggest any of your selections are unworthy. 

Watching Foley tear up the Hurricanes makes you wonder if Deans would consider him over drama queen Cooper.